Monthly Archives: December 2016

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the past few days leading up to this post about what I was going to say tonight. As I was thinking, I knew I wanted to talk about my thoughts on makeup and my philosophy on it but I also knew I wanted to talk about how I started to get into makeup and how I’ve learned over the years to apply it (and ultimately learn to love it). This post is, I hate to say it, my makeup “journey”, and how through makeup, I have found myself.

As most little girls do, I started to explore makeup with the play kit that my godmother got me for Christmas one year. It had fake nails, lipstick, eyeshadow, blush. Anything that was either bright pink or purple that could go on my face, it had. That, along with dance started me off in the makeup world. When I was about 5or 6, every Sunday before church my mother allowed me to put on some of her blush and a little bit of lip gloss. Sunday’s were the only day of the week I was allowed to do this so they were always special days. I remember the brand too, Physicians Formula. It was a blush but it didn’t have much pigment to it but that’s beside the point. That, for the most part, was my first experience with makeup.

Besides dance recitals, I never really wore makeup unless it was a clear gloss of some sort. Up until 5th grade, no one in my school ever wore it and none of my friends’ parents or my parents thought it was appropriate for us to be wearing makeup at the time. Fifth grade was the year I started to wear makeup outside of school. I wore a hint of a pale eyeshadow that had shimmer in it and again, more gloss and that was it for my makeup look. Sixth grade was the year that I started to branch out more. I invested in eyelash curlers (which I still use today), a Wet-n-Wild mascara and an eyeliner pencil in black. (Please note that my mother didn’t wear makeup on a daily basis so I was copying one of my good friends at the time.) I used to take the black eyeliner and only put it in my water line, I curled my eyelashes, put one coat of mascara on and I was out the door. When I was in seventh grade, not much changed except I only wore mascara. By my eighth grade year, I ventured out and started to do winged eyeliner every day. I got pretty good at applying liquid eyeliner and I did this look through the middle of freshman year.

For the last year and a half, I’ve been experimenting with my look and finding looks that work best for me. I find that less is usually more. That’s my philosophy with makeup really, less is more and the point of makeup is to enhance your natural beauty, not hide it in a mask of foundation and concealer. I obviously love really intense highlight, a smokey eye, and a bold, red lip. But even that makeup should be enhancing what you already have, not masking it. Makeup is meant to not hide your flaws, although that is what is perceived, but it is meant to bring out the best features in a person. If a model has really beautiful blue eyes with long eyelashes, the makeup will compliment that. If the model has really full lips, the makeup artist will play up the lips and dull down the rest of the look.

I love to follow the trends but not all trends are meant for my skin, my eyes, my lips etc. Don’t let social media dictate what you should be doing with your makeup or how you apply it. Do what works best for you and the rest will come along naturally.

I hope this kind of gives you some insight on my philosophy on makeup and my beliefs on it. Feel free to leave comments below letting me know your thoughts on makeup and whether you like this post or not!

Also, I have some amazing news regarding my Saturday post! My beautiful friend, Livi, will be making an appearance on the blog for my “New Years Eve Glam Makeup, Hair and Outfit Look!” I hope you have a wonderful day or night!

I’m so sorry about my absence on my blog. Between school, dance, theatre and work, things have been pretty busy. I’m going to be posting a lot more over break and especially at the start of the New Year. Speaking of, this post is going to be pretty different from my usual posts so bare with me.

I’ve always loved the holiday season. Ever since I was a little girl, I always loved the lights, the spirit of giving and the love shared by everyone. (In case you were wondering, I celebrate Christmas.) To me, Christmas isn’t just about the presents and the religiousness, rather, it’s a way to end the year in a solid note. Usually this time of the year is hectic for most with the Christmas shopping, decorating and traveling. For me, it’s a chance to reflect on the year. I can get caught up in the everyday hustle and bustle and I always seem to forget what life and this world is really about. The holiday season reminds me that I need to stop every once and a while and just enjoy what I have and experience life. This time of year is more than presents and traveling and craziness, it’s about giving and reflecting and ultimately, preparing for change.

Now many are not as fortunate as me to be receiving the gifts I will receive and some may not have a family like mine, so this is also a big time of giving for me. At my school, we have this fundraiser called “The Christmas Project” where each home room adopts a family and buys them the items they need/asked for for Christmas. It’s such a beautiful and humbing experience and every year I make sure I contribute. I am especially blessed this year to have been able to go out and actually buy the things my family asked for for Christmas this year. Their needs were so basic and they were essentials to be quite frank. In a way, it made me feel even more bratty than I feel whenever I receive such expensive, unnecessary gifts.

This time of the year is always wonderful and it’s even better to start off the year surrounded by my loved ones. New Year’s is a way for me to reset and refresh myself. It’s an opportunity for me to set myself on the right path for the rest of the year. Being my junior year, I have to really focus on school and looking for colleges and ultimately, by September, I’m going to be applying to schools. By this time next year, I will (hopefully) be getting college acceptance letters. I can’t wait to be surrounded by my friends and family as we welcome the new year with hope and ambition. 2017 is going to be a big big year for me and I feel that I need to start off on the right foot to get where I need to go for the upcoming months.

This year, I plan to write more on this blog, expand on my makeup and fashion knowledge/experience, possibly start a makeup YouTube channel, try and meditate/do yoga more often and overall better myself and my community. This holiday season, reflect on 2016. See what you did well and continue that through 2017, but also see what you did wrong in 2016 and try to improve upon it in 2017.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa and all the best at the start of the New Year.